To get running higher mileage more consistently without getting injured

Sub 2:19:00 marathon

Personal:

I used to run competitively, and maybe I will do so again someday. Right now I am primarily running to try and get in better shape, and to maintain both physical and emotional health, but also for the simple joy that comes when I run.

I am also the proud daddy of five little ones. I love the opportunity that I have to be a daddy, and my challenge is to balance my family responsibilities with work and running.

I ran mostly the same route that I ran on Saturday, except during a portion of the run near the halfway mark where I turned right instead of left to run up a moderately steep uphill grade instead of running on a mild downhill grade. I noted that without really trying to run more quickly than I ran on Saturday, I was running a fair amount faster. This made me curious, as I felt like I had to work harder than I anticipated during my fast mile on Saturday, so I decided to run the same mile fast again.

My little experiment was interesting, as according to my watch I ended up running this mile about 17 seconds faster than I did on Saturday (6:02 vs. 6:19, with approximately 50 ft elevation gain, plus the suspicion that this is actually longer than a mile), however I feel like I was breathing much easier throughout, and I definitely felt fresher at the end. Unfortunately I can't really come to any conclusions about things, as neither effort was maximal, the HR monitor on my watch is garbage so I can't say for certain that my HR was lower, while today I also knew what to expect and I was watching my watch more closely than I was on Saturday to make sure that there were no lapses in concentration. Oh well, at least I felt good running today, as I haven't been able to say that regularly lately.

Easy run. I felt better and ran a little quicker than I thought I would. I felt run down and tired all day today despite getting plenty of sleep the last few nights. Normally when I feel this way my runs tend to really drag on, and I struggle to even run faster than 8:00 pace. Today however, that was not the case, and I was running 7:30 pace for a good portion of my run without feeling run down and tired.

I was expecting to feel pretty tired while running today, so I purposefully kept the run slow, but after about 4 miles I realized that I had started speeding up without trying to, so I decided to not worry about how fast I was going, and just run.

Somehow I ran within 1 second of my time for the run yesterday. I started out a little faster today, but slowed down a couple miles into the run as I started running uphill into a headwind before getting a nice downhill tailwind after turning around. I considered running a mile tempo on the way home, but I was disuaded by a need to void, which tends to be exacerbated by running fast, so I ran more slowly and was able to make it home to use the toilet.